This giant 8,000+ panel solar canopy installation at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins, also sports 10 EV charging stations. [Photo Credit: NRG Energy]

Recently, I wrote about some of the progress the National Football League has seen in terms of promoting and utilizing solar technology at games and in other events.

If you talk to the majority of season ticket holders and hardcore football fans, it seems like their sentiments are generally the same: “We would love solar energy usage at games… But only if it doesn’t raise the already-ridiculous price of football tickets.”

In terms of my personal opinion on solar in the NFL, I couldn’t agree with them more. Make use of the exceptional marketing opportunity that is football, but do it without hurting the fans.

The following column is written by Anna Dreiling, a University of Denver student who has been interning at SolarChargedDriving.Com for the past two months.

I admit it: I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I came into this internship at SolarChargedDriving.com, and I definitely didn’t know what my opinions on it would be.

I can’t say I had ever looked into anything having to do with solar-charged EVs before I took it on… (Okay, I admit it: I didn’t even know exactly what an “EV” was!) I didn’t know where to start, and I certainly didn’t know any of the technical lingo that was thrown around so freely.

I power my BMW Electric Mini-E with solar energy. I drive on sunshine.

My overall home solar system size is 7.5kw and that system powers both our home and car. It is a balanced energy use and energy generation solution: We generate 11,700 kWh a year and we use 11,700 kWh per year.

In the U.S., each kW of a solar PV system costs approximately $3,700 when part of an average sized residential system. The space required for that one kW is about 60 square feet, or about half the size of a small bedroom.

In California and other sunshine states, that one kW will generate approximately 1,550 kWh of electricity annually. A typical solar PV warranty is 25 years. And you can generate 38,750 kWh over those 25 years.

Quick-draw critics of the electric car often criticize EVs because, in their words, “Electric cars simply replace a tailpipe with a smokestack.”

The gist of their argument is that emissions still occur, not at the tailpipe but at the electric power plant. That observation is usually followed by the statement that 45% of our grid electricity is powered by coal and coal is dirty. Thus, the EV supposedly provides no net gain.

The critics may want to look in the mirror -- or in their garage.